The only private business Dilma ran in her entire life was a 99 cent store. Went bankrupt less than two years after opening. She ran back to the public sector, where her husband was already waiting, where she had good "acquaintances" or "companheiros", where she could never get fired or failed because there she could always blame someone else, like the successful business men or the "lazy" rich investors, or even some lower patent "companheiro", for example. She loved the lifestyle so much that she is still totally addicted to it.
Is like: "how dare don't these capitalists risk all the money they work so hard to earn just to make me look good to the people? How dare don't they fully trust my finance minister just because he was wrong every single time he predicted something?"

We are watching a new "Cristina Kirchner" version in Brazil. And that new creature is more likely to become a "Hugo Chaves" in the future than a "Juan Manuel Santos Calderón"(it would look more like a Hugo caricature actually since "we don't have that much oil").

And while this "socialist" government just wants to do business with rich men(unless you know some Rosemary), all the small and medium business men in Brazil, responsible for 07 out of 10 jobs in the country, will keep being forced to watch the Apocalypse without having the chance to be heard.

Oh! I'm sorry to say but The Economist just put Mr. Mantega in a lifetime job.
A person with a mind like Ms. Rousseff's, who is ideologically oriented by the 1960's left in a 3rd world populist mix, like many of her latin america colleagues, wouldn't fire one of her ridiculous and incompetent ministers following a suggestion from a foreign liberal newsmagazine.
Personally, I wouldn't employ Mr. Mantega even as a popcorn store manager, but in Brazil with this nasty and troubled PT (the so-called Worker's Party) government, you know.
From a Brazilian perspective, this wasn't a smart move.

The comments of the petralhas here make me ashamed of my country. Petralhas, try to understand this: in the civilized world, it's common for a magazine to criticize the government and suggest changes in the team. This is not the British government speaking, it is a private magazine entitled to its own opinions.

And what's more, those opinions happen to be correct. Mantega is widely regarded as joke, as one of the worst Finance Ministers in the world. His failed predictions, his silly interventionism, his same-old remedies for all situations (incentives to buy cars)... all of that makes him a very bad Minister. He really should go (as should Dilma and the PT).

Now, for those illiterate baboons claiming that Brasil is "better than the UK"... how come the average salary of a Brazilian worker is roughly one-fifth of a British worker? Hum?

Petralhas, the natural thing is for poor countries to grow faster than rich ones. Brazil is lagging all of the major emerging economies, and the corruption, incompetence and interventionism of Dilma and her team are to blame.

The major achievement of Dilma is this: at the eyes of the world the "B" or the BRICs has been removed.

Good article with some insight into some of Brazil’s core troubles. If the issues were resolved with Mr. Mantega’s departure it would be very easy. Brazil’s problems go much deeper.
There has been no meaningful infrastructure investment for scores of years. During President Lula’s two tenures the Interstate road network (Rodovias Federais) was left to deteriorate. The ports and airports have faced a similar. The cost of moving goods around the country or to the ports is very superior to the EU or USA and astronomically more expensive then moving goods around Asia. Logistics costs in Brazil are way out of line. Brazil produces some of cheapest electricity in the world but by the time it gets to the end consumer, due to layer upon layer of taxes and double taxes, it is one of the most expensive in the world. It is not uncommon for energy intensive industries to get off the grid and power themselves with diesel generators. The tax code is a patchwork of regularly changing rules which forces companies to dedicate thousands of man hours every year just to try and keep up with rules.
Add-on payroll costs in Brazil are to the order of 115% to 120%, which means for every R$1 an employee is paid, the employer forks out R$2, 20 in addition to other mandatory payments like transport and food vouchers amongst other costs. Workers in Brazil may not be handsomely paid but they do cost significantly if compared to other emerging markets.
Brazil and Brazilians have no savings (like Americans), so any major investment depends on FDI or the development bank BNDES, finding resources in the world market. Brazil is slowly turning itself into a questionable investment destination if compared with other emerging markets.
Over the past ten years, government jobs have been created exponentially to accommodate for party loyals. Salaries have also grown way beyond inflation and any other measure. This leaves a time bomb for the future as Public Workers (civil servants) retire at a young age with full pay which is yearly corrected in line with active salaries.
Meritocracy has been done away with in the country, there are being created quotas for schools, universities, public jobs and even private jobs and this not for minorities as would be expected. ---Brazilians who have always been entrepreneurs have changed their minds and are all wannabe public workers.
Graft and corruption are endemic, just read the local press.
Brazil has had a very successful agricultural business. If it had not been for this economic sector the country’s GDP would have been negative for the past few years. Brazil has surfed on China’s need to feed its population and buy iron ore to supply its manufacturing.
One would have expected that agricultural sector would have the full support of government, not so. The government is driving through with its ecology/conservation program (Codigo Florestal) which shifts the responsibility of preservation onto the farmlands making the farmers responsible for the countries eco preservation. Sounds great but in practice it may mean cattle cannot have access to rivers for drinking as the vegetation along the river has to be protected. Hillsides cannot be planted, (there goes coffee and grapes) marshes and wetland cannot be planted (there goes rice! A staple in the country).
Brazil’s time of reckoning will come as soon as China’s investments in central Africa start to produce results. Climate, soil are very similar, labour is available and iron ore is plentiful.

As a middle class Brazilian I can say that life in this country under Lula and Dilma became much more difficult: this is an extremely expensive country to live in, criminality is unbearable, public health service died before the patients, private health care extremely expensive and low quality, crack addiction has soared to unbelievable levels. Taxes come from all sides and the return is almost null, so Brazilians pay too much and receive almost nothing in return so it is always cheaper to travel abroad, feel safe abroad and buy all you can't buy in Brazil, so Brazilians now see that we lived of lies and false promises of a corrupt gang that cought the power and does not want to leave.

Hey!
Wait a while!
I see many "experts" talking about Brazil`s economy and the meddling the state performs on almost every area of our economy, but that`s just necessary!
What I see is that most of the liberal media complains becouse of the strong presence of the state on the market, but they are overlooking the fact that this is the country where companies and investors alike have made more money in this time of world crises.
When people talk about proteccionism it makes me sick!
How do USA and EUROPE countries act on issues such as agriculture other than barrier the entering of foreign products into their territory!
Just like us here, they have to protect their productive sectors.
This is another article very biased towards the market!
But if you recall from this very article, the gentleman who wrote it stated "Instead the government should redouble efforts to cut the Brazil cost—by, for instance, tackling labour laws—and thus letting the private sector’s animal spirits roar".
That means cutting welfare programs that benefit citizens and tax payers , just like the agenda that has been imposed to Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy, just to name a few.
It is never too much to remind you that we are experiencing our lowest unemployment rates ever. Thus, i don`t think we need any flexibilization of our labour laws.
This government has, along with the first two terms of Mr. Lula da Silva, one of the highest approval rates in the world, around amazing 80%!
So, the indexes and ratings that work for the economists don`t apply to the citzens in general.
Thanks

Brazil's economy is going very well in comparison with most of european countries. We have less 6% of unemployed and we have GDP positive. (all the crisys time!!!):D
The Economist go ahead with your own country... fire Cameron and the queen!

No, Mrs. Dilma is not going to fire anyone in her government. Do you know why?

Because she is a stupid post-keynesian that firmly believes that government is the magic solution for everything: you issue as much money as you want, use this money to run expensive projects that will draw voters in the next election, divert part of it to obscure accounts, ignores inflation and, voilà!, GDP grows like metastasis.

Brazil is, nowadays, a country whose industry goes downhill and only agriculture can pump economy up (in spite of the government). Taxes here are extremely high, infrastructure is ridiculous, people are mostly uneducated, default is increasing and everybody knows that, sincerely, this country is utterly overrated by governments and companies interested in its stupidness to make easy money.

We are a light Venezuela, that's the truth. Our communism is different. But it's yet communism and therefore evil.

Brazil doesn't need to reform, and it certainly doesn't need advice from foreigners. Brazilian socialism is the economic model to which all countries should aspire and we have the third quarter GDP figures to prove it!

Our private sector may be tied up in red tape, our labour laws insane, our legal system as clogged as the roads to our ports, our state pensions system a gigantic economic time-bomb, and our politicians and police corrupt to the core. However, these factors will in no way impede Brazil's progress. In fact, one only has to look at the economic history of Argentina to understand that on our present course we are destined for success!

Well, to get a recommendation from a country where the economic team manipulates the LIBOR index so easily humm....is not so dependable.
And Mrs Dilma is not more arrogant than all first ministers from UK, typically puppets from US actions.
In fact, right now the economic situation in Brazil is better than European situation, and this is certified with the hundred of permiss than europeans (including english people) request to work in Brazil.

I think TE mostly misses the point, except for Mantega's excessive optimism, which is typical for a politician anyway. For so many years this magazine (and most of the Brazilian press) has complained (and with good reason) about the high cost of doing business in Brazil. Now there's a government which is finally tackling this, and people complain that it's "meddling". I wonder how can a natural monopoly like energy production and distribution have lower prices without such intervention. The returns on investment need to be adjusted to a new reality in which the basic interest rate is at an all-time low. In some fields of business this will happen naturally through competition, while in others some government intervention will be surely needed.
Additionally, a lot of the measures taken in this year will take a while to bear fruit - just like some of the development programs started by the military government in the seventies only started to show results years later.
The major problems of the current policy in my book are the excessive protectionism in some areas, the meddling with the gas prices (in this case the term is totally justified) and not dealing properly with the current property bubble. Other than that, I've never seen a government that is as business-friendly (particularly to the manufacturing sector) as this one, at least since Brazil went back to democracy.

After reading all comments I am impressed with their quality. Even for someone with an average IQ, some intellectual honesty and reasonable amount of information, with few exceptions, it would be challenging to produce such rubbish, and here I include the article itself.
Quoting: http://www.brasil.gov.br/news/history/2011/07/27/brazil-is-now-among-top...
"Brazil jumped last year to the fifth place among major destinations of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), according to the World Investment Report 2011 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Brazil was previously in the fifteenth position.
FDI in Brazil grew from US$ 25.9 billion in 2009 to US$ 48.4 billion. Only the US (US$ 228.2 billion), China (US$ 105.7 billion), Hong Kong (US$ 68.9 billion) and Belgium (US$ 61.7 billion) received more foreign investments.
UNCTAD expects Brazil to climb another position by 2013. The report pointed to Brazil as one of the most quoted investment destinations, behind China, the US and India. The UNCTAD report also shows that global flows of FDI around the world grew 5% last year over 2009, reaching US$ 1.24 trillion."
Companies and investors place their money where they see a good opportunity for safely making a profit. Brazil is the 5th (going 4th) destination for FDI. It is not the best country in the world, actually it has a lot of urgent problems to solve, but that is exactly what the current democratically elected government is doing.
There are maturing projects on education, infrastructure and according legislation to ensure their financing. It is a well informed development plan, going from the pre-salt to sending thousands of students to the best universities in the world. It is about making sure that the royalties from the newly found oil fields are going to finance early and primary education.
From any angle you study the case, it is going to succeed. It is not a race for the 5th or whatever GDP place, but a race to give Brazil, with Latin America integration and cooperation in Africa (without any diktats as from former global powers, but for reciprocal benefit through peaceful diplomacy rooted in a 150-year tradition) better opportunity for their peoples.
Some analysts are outdated, running against this peaceful changing tide, unaware of conceptual changes that have taken place even inside the IMF. Complaining against labour costs in Brazil for them is not about the Brazilian executives earnings, now reaching American heights, or the millionaire bonuses paid to the bankers who created the 2008 fall. It is about cutting the cost of paid holidays, 13th salary (in Brazil) or retirement benefit (the UK), for those at the bottom, in what they call market flexibility. Brazilian labour laws and benefits, by the way, are not much different from those in Europe. They forget that the average salary paid in Brazil is 1/5 of that in Germany and, even if their costs were double in Brazil what they are in Europe that would still make for highly competitive costs.
I hope that the UK get rid of this awful Conservative government as soon as possible and that some sincere Labour change the present dismaying performance of the economy, which by the way even with all its first world competence has been lagging since the production of oil in the North Sea has dwindled. After all the UK is an important partner and friend.

As a Brazilian who lives in the US it is funny to sit on the sidelines and watch the "developed" world sweating blood to discourage Brazil and its people from trusting its own government on economic terms. For a country that supports a family of good for nothings with lavish taxes and perks with taxpayers' money you guys are not quite the most "unbiased and focused" people to give economic counsel...
Ms Rousseff is doing a stellar job, Brazil has grown every year of the crisis, is showing signs of growth acceleration while inflations is slowing down, energy prices are under control, private investment is actually growing, etc, etc...
Thank you for the "recommendations", by really, no thanks! Brazil is really doing great!

TE is naive to belive that the problem is the economic team (lame as it is). The problem is Ms Rouseff - she calls the shots in economic matters. Unfortunately, she is an unreformed, vain, overconfident stalinist who believe she can finely steer our economy towards vigorous growth and development, if only people obey her orders, er, "guidance".

Personally, I find this position reveals monstrous arrogance, when one considers that this government does not know how may people it employs and how much it pays them, has been unable to implement basic sanitation to half of the households, offers such crummy education that our children routinely rank last in the PISA exam, lets medical equipment rotten in pulic hospitals because no one plans to install them and - of course - is robbed blind by nearly everyone every day.

PT partisan ass-kissers can 'roll on the floor and laugh' as much as they want. Fact is, the party's big shots have been convicted by the nation's Supreme Court. The current administration has very little to show, not to the Economist, which is offering a world audience a realistic and incomparable insight into our country, but to us Brazilian citizens, who will hopefully opt for a different leadership in the next general election. Corruption goes hand in hand with parties that perpetuate themselves in power. I am Brazilian and I am glad to read that not only OUR press is critical about the current government's incompetence. By the way, I believe the term 'meddler-in-chief' was the perfect choice to describe Dilma's style: GERENTONA. No doubt she is MUCH BETTER than her immediate predecessor, who never knew what was going on in his own backyard. But not up to the job of leading our great nation.
(P.S.: Folks, if you can't maintain a reasonable level of debate, please, refrain from writing here, especially in other languages. There is always your trade union's (or UNE's) tabloid for you to express your views and read leftist flattering adulation of the sort you like...

As a brazilian, every opinion that cames from the BRITISH EMPIRE is , of course, to better explore us. Is this since colonial times. That's what britain do, and as an elector (what YOU AREN'T!!!!) I will vote for Dilma AND Mantega beacuase I must do the contrary of what the SLAVE MASTERS OF GREAT BRITAIN say me to do.
Thanks.